How to Prepare a Designer Handbag Tech Pack: Eight Pages and Every Figure a Bench Needs
How do you prepare a designer handbag tech pack? Build it as eight pages, in this order: cover and revision, 1:1 dimensioned drawings, material sheet, construction sheet, hardware sheet, colourway sheet, packing and labelling, then compliance and destination. A pack is a contract between a drawing and a bench, and its only job is to remove interpretation. The figures that matter most are thickness at 1.2-1.4 mm, stitch density at 8-9 per inch, skive width at 9-11 mm and a tolerance of plus or minus 1 mm on every panel.
What Is a Tech Pack Actually For?
A tech pack is a contract between a drawing and a bench. Its only job is to remove interpretation, because interpretation is where a sample departs from an intention, and where the days in a sampling window disappear. Everything in it should be measurable, checkable and, ideally, arguable about later.
It is not a presentation. Mood imagery belongs in a separate document that the bench can look at once and set aside. The pack itself carries only what somebody can put a rule against: dimensions, tolerances, weights, counts, microns and hours.
- A pack answers what to make, not why it should be made.
- Every figure in it should be checkable with an instrument somebody already owns.
- Anything that cannot be measured belongs in the mood document, not the pack.
- The pack is the reference a second season is built from, which is why revisions are numbered.
The test for any line in a pack is simple: could two people reading it disagree, and if they did, could an instrument settle it? If the answer to the first is yes and the second is no, the line belongs in the mood document. This single test removes most of the adjectives that otherwise turn a four-day sampling window into a ten-day one.
What Goes on Page One: Identity and Revision
Page one carries identity and nothing else: style name, style code, season, revision number, date, and the named people who own each decision. It is the page most often left half-finished and the one that resolves most disputes six months later.
| Page | Contents | Why it exists |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cover and revision | Style code, season, revision number, date, named contacts | Settles which version was approved and by whom |
| 2. Technical drawings | 1:1 dimensioned front, side, base and interior views | The only page a pattern maker can cut from |
| 3. Material sheet | Leather, lining, interlining, thread, adhesive with references | Sets grade and gradeability before anything is ordered |
| 4. Construction sheet | Assembly order, seam allowances, stitch density, edge build | Makes the operations checkable at the station |
| 5. Hardware sheet | Alloy, plating microns, zip size, cycle and corrosion targets | Removes the most expensive ambiguity in the pack |
| 6. Colourway sheet | Colour references per panel, thread and edge, per colourway | Prevents a body being built from two dye batches |
| 7. Packing and labelling | Dust bag, box, care card, carton count and dimensions | Packing leads its own schedule outside bulk |
| 8. Compliance and destination | Markets, regulations, labelling, fibre composition | Testing is priced per lot and per market |
Number revisions as v1.0, v1.1 and v2.0, and date every one. A pack with no revision history cannot answer the question you will eventually ask, which is what was agreed and when.
What Dimensions Does a Bench Need?
A drawing without dimensions is a suggestion. The pack needs front, side and base views at 1:1, each carrying figures rather than scales, plus an interior view that shows pocket placement. Tolerances belong beside the figures, not in a general note at the foot of the page.
- Body dimensions
- Length, height and depth in centimetres, tolerance plus or minus 1 mm
- Handle drop
- 18-22 cm, measured from the top edge to the underside of the handle
- Strap drop
- 45-55 cm, with the adjustable range stated where applicable
- Gusset depth
- 10-14 cm, stated separately at the base and at the opening
- Opening width
- Stated closed and at maximum extension
- Approved sample weight
- Recorded on the approval sample and held as a reference
Measure the handle drop on a reference bag you own and like rather than guessing from a drawing. It is the single dimension most often misjudged, and it is the one a customer feels before they see anything else.
What Does the Material Sheet Have to Say?
The material sheet names the tannery and the grade, not the nationality of the leather. Saying Italian calfskin tells a bench where a hide came from and nothing about its surface; naming the tannery and grade tells it what to order and what to reject.
- Body leather
- 1.2-1.4 mm full-grain calfskin, tolerance plus or minus 0.1 mm, tannery and grade named
- Lining
- Cotton twill at 210 gsm, with the colour reference stated
- Interlining
- 260 gsm non-woven at 0.85 mm on every structured panel
- Reinforcement
- Backing behind every hardware position, with the area stated
- Thread
- 0.45 mm bonded nylon, colour reference stated per colourway
- Adhesive
- Contact or water-based by panel, with the destination climate noted
State the gradeable properties rather than the desirable ones. Thickness, tolerance, colour fastness and coating adhesion can all be checked against a standard; beautiful, supple and rich cannot, and arguments about adjectives are the longest ones in any development cycle.
How Is Construction Specified So It Can Be Checked?
Construction is specified as a sequence with a figure attached to each operation, because a bench needs to know both what to do and how to know it did it. A numbered assembly order also prevents the most common silent failure, which is two operations performed in the wrong sequence.
Six construction lines that must carry a figure
- Stitch density: 8-9 per inch, recorded at three points per unit.
- Seam allowance: stated in millimetres for each seam type, not left to convention.
- Skive width: 9-11 mm on every turned or butted edge.
- Edge build: three coats at 13-16 µm, sanded between passes, heat set on the last.
- Assembly order: listed as a numbered sequence rather than implied by the drawing.
- Topstitch distance: held constant from the panel edge and stated in millimetres.
Where an operation is hand-finished, say so explicitly and say what it replaces. Hand-burnishing is not decoration; it is a different edge build with a different expected life, and the difference should sit in the pack rather than in a conversation.
How Do You Specify Hardware Without Drawing It?
Hardware is specified by reference, alloy and finish rather than by rendering. A photograph of a similar part plus the alloy, the plating thickness in microns and the size is more useful to a bench than a detailed illustration of a part nobody has made yet.
Alloy and base
State brass or zinc alloy in writing, because the two take plating differently and age differently under identical thickness.
Finish and microns
Give plating thickness as a band, typically 0.2-0.3 µm over a palladium underlayer, and name the measurement method.
Corrosion target
State neutral salt spray hours to ISO 9227, commonly 48 hours for boutique-grade closures, with the result filed by lot.
Size and cycling
Give zip size, typically #5 metal or #3 coil, and require 500 open-close cycles before bulk release.
Setting and pull-off
State press force in kilonewtons and require pull-off testing for feet and rivets on the approval sample.
Keep one hardware family across a capsule wherever the design allows. Shared plating runs shorten component lead time, and a single proven mechanism is safer on a first season than three unproven ones.
One further line is worth adding for bespoke parts: the proving requirement. A closure developed for you needs a cycling step inside the sampling window rather than a functional check on the sample, which is why complex constructions are quoted at 12-15 working days instead of 6-10. That extra window is not padding; it is the time required to discover a mechanism problem while it can still be corrected.
What Does the Packing and Compliance Page Contain?
Packing and compliance sit last in the pack and first in the list of things forgotten. Presentation elements lead their own schedule outside the 35-50 day bulk window, and compliance is priced per material lot and per destination, so both need to be settled early.
- Dust bag specification: material, drawstring type, print method and colour reference.
- Box specification: rigid or folding, board gauge, closure and print.
- Care card and tissue, which together add about USD 4.80 per unit at typical quantities.
- Export carton count and dimensions, typically 10-12 units per carton at 58 x 38 x 38 cm.
- Labelling: country of origin, fibre composition under EU Regulation 1007/2011 where applicable.
- Destination markets named, so compliance is booked against the lot rather than after packing.
Carton count is the figure most often chosen for convenience and regretted at freight quotation. Ask for carton dimensions and gross weight as part of the packing specification, because those two figures set your landed cost as directly as unit price does.
Two further items belong on this page because they are regularly discovered late. The first is country of origin labelling, which affects the print on the care card and the box rather than only the carton. The second is the bar code or article number format, which has a lead time of its own once the print method is fixed.
How Do You Keep a Pack Alive Through Revisions?
A pack is a living document until the specification freeze, and a record afterwards. Each revision should carry a number, a date and a one-line reason, because the reason is what a second season needs more than the change itself.
Record why, not only what. A note reading interlining raised from 180 gsm to 260 gsm to hold the flap line explains the decision to whoever opens the pack two years later, while a bare figure leaves them guessing whether it was deliberate.
After the freeze, the pack stops being a working document and becomes the reference bulk is measured against. That transition is worth marking explicitly, because it is the point at which changes stop being notes and start being re-quotations.
This programme runs across 7 production lines with about 200,000 pcs per month of capacity and has held export experience since 2014, executed through our validated partner factory Quanzhou Yingming Bags, an SGS-validated site. Sampling runs 6-10 working days for standard constructions and 12-15 for complex ones, bulk runs 35-50 days at MOQ 500 pcs per style and colourway quoted on FOB Xiamen terms, and inspection is set at AQL 2.5 under ISO 2859-1 with third-party audit available in addition.
Have your pack reviewed before sampling
Send your pack, quantity per colourway and destination markets. You will receive a page-by-page review, the figures we would check at each station, and a costing within two working days. Request a quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a designer handbag tech pack for?
It is a contract between a drawing and a bench, and its only job is to remove interpretation. Interpretation is where a sample departs from an intention and where sampling days disappear. Everything in the pack should be measurable and checkable with an instrument somebody already owns.
How many pages should a handbag tech pack have?
Eight works well: cover and revision, 1:1 dimensioned drawings, material sheet, construction sheet, hardware sheet, colourway sheet, packing and labelling, and compliance and destination. Pages three, four and five carry almost all of the specification risk, while pages one and eight carry the administrative risk, which is smaller in money and larger in delay.
Should I include mood imagery in the pack?
No, keep it in a separate document. The bench can look at mood imagery once and set it aside, whereas the pack should carry only what somebody can put a rule against. Mixing the two is how a specification ends up arguing about adjectives, and arguments about adjectives are the longest ones in any development cycle.
What tolerance should I write for panel dimensions?
Plus or minus 1 mm on every panel dimension, written beside the figure rather than as a general note at the foot of the page. Leather thickness is tighter at plus or minus 0.1 mm, measured at five points per hide and recorded against the lot.
How should leather be specified?
Name the tannery and the grade along with thickness in millimetres. Italian calfskin describes where a hide came from and nothing about its surface. Add colour fastness to rubbing under ISO 105-X12, targeting grade 4 dry and grade 3-4 wet, and coating adhesion under ISO 11644.
What construction figures does the pack need?
Six: stitch density of 8-9 per inch, seam allowance in millimetres per seam type, skive width of 9-11 mm on turned edges, edge build of three coats at 13-16 µm, a numbered assembly order, and a constant topstitch distance from the panel edge. The assembly order matters most, because it prevents the common silent failure of two operations being performed in the wrong sequence.
How do I specify hardware I have not designed yet?
By reference, alloy and finish rather than by rendering. Give a photograph of a similar part plus the alloy, plating thickness as a band of 0.2-0.3 µm, the salt spray hours to ISO 9227, the zip size and the cycling requirement of 500 repetitions.
Why does the pack need a colourway sheet?
Because a colourway multiplies the specification rather than only the quantity. Each colourway needs its own references for leather, thread, edge paint and lining. Without them, a body can be assembled from two dye batches that match under bench lighting and separate in daylight, a failure that is invisible at approval and obvious on a shop floor.
What should the packing page specify?
Dust bag material and print, box type and board gauge, care cards and tissue, which together add about USD 4.80 per unit, plus export carton count and dimensions, typically 10-12 units at 58 x 38 x 38 cm. Carton figures set your freight quotation, so request them here.
Which compliance items belong in the pack?
Destination markets, the regulations each triggers, and labelling requirements. European Union programmes screen against REACH Annex XVII and follow EU Regulation 1007/2011 for fibre composition; United States programmes add California Prop 65 assessment and CPSIA documentation where applicable. Name the markets on this page, because testing is priced per material lot and per destination.
How should revisions be recorded?
Number them v1.0, v1.1 and v2.0, date each one, and add a one-line reason. The reason matters more than the change, because whoever opens the pack two years later needs to know whether a figure was deliberate. Record why, not only what.
What happens to the pack after approval?
It stops being a working document and becomes the reference bulk is measured against. That transition is the specification freeze, when the approval sample is signed and the hide lot is named. Mark it explicitly, because afterwards a change stops being a note and becomes a re-quotation.
How much does a full pack shorten development?
Typically four to six working days on a first style, and more on subsequent styles in the same capsule. The saving comes from removing clarification rounds rather than from working faster, which is why packs with named materials and tolerances outperform longer documents full of description.
People Also Ask
What is included in a handbag tech pack?
Eight pages: cover and revision, 1:1 dimensioned drawings, material sheet, construction sheet, hardware sheet, colourway sheet, packing and labelling, and compliance and destination. The middle three carry most of the specification risk, and the last two are the ones most often forgotten.
Do I need a tech pack to get a handbag sampled?
Dimensioned drawings and a material list are enough to start, but a full pack removes four to six working days of clarification and produces a specification you can re-order from in a second season.
What tolerance should handbag panels be made to?
Plus or minus 1 mm on panel dimensions, written beside each figure. Leather thickness is held tighter, at plus or minus 0.1 mm measured at five points per hide.
How do I specify handbag hardware in a pack?
By alloy, plating thickness in microns, salt spray hours to ISO 9227, zip size and cycling requirement, plus a reference photograph rather than a detailed drawing of an unmade part.
Why record revision reasons in a tech pack?
Because the reason outlives the change. A note explaining that interlining was raised from 180 gsm to 260 gsm to hold a flap line tells a future reader it was deliberate; a bare figure leaves them guessing.
Sources and further reading
Every figure on this page is either our own programme data or attributed below. Open the originals before you write them into a specification.
- ISO — International Organization for StandardizationISO Publisher of ISO 2859-1 for AQL sampling inspection, ISO 9227 for salt spray testing, ISO 105-X12 for colour fastness to rubbing and ISO 11644 for finish adhesion.
- Leather Working GroupLeather Working Group Tannery environmental audit protocol referenced when the material sheet names a tannery and grade for full-grain calfskin.
- European Chemicals AgencyECHA Authority for REACH obligations, including the Annex XVII restrictions named on the compliance page of the pack.
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety CommissionU.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Administrator of CPSIA requirements applied to metal components, recorded alongside California Prop 65 assessment for United States destinations.
- CITES — Convention on International Trade in Endangered SpeciesCITES Permit framework for exotic skins, whose documentation belongs on the compliance page and is archived with the material record.